MOAB. The Mother of All Bombs. It's just as destructive as it sounds. The US has dropped MOAB, the largest non-nuclear bomb in the country’s arsenal, on an area of eastern Afghanistan known to be a hotspot for ISIS activity. The bomb, weighing in at 21,000lb, can be seen tested online at a Florida test site in 2003, but according to the Pentagon, has never been used in combat. Dropped by an MC-130 (pictured above), the GBU-43 bomb was deployed at 7 PM local time. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed that the US had deployed the “large, powerful and accurately-delivered weapon”.

A 'MOAB'

The Pentagon also confirmed that the bomb hit its designated target, a cave complex utilized by ISIS fighter in the Achin district of Nangarhar, close to the border with Pakistan, claiming that the strategic attack had been planned for months.

This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS.

— General John Nicholson, Head of US and International Forces in Afghanistan